writerly ways

[cornerofmadness]

Reading and writing. I’ve noticed a rather disturbing trend in would-be writers lately. They don’t want to read (not particularly anyone on my flist who seem to be avid readers). I’ve noticed this more and more with all the big bangs running around (and there certainly are a lot of them in so many fandoms).

It’s one thing to not want to read a long fan fic. Sometimes we’re afraid it will never be finished (that happens a lot), or we don’t have time for fan fic right now. I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about seeing people say ‘I don’t like to read anything long.’ Or plain old fashioned, ‘I don’t like to read.’

I’m not sure how you plan on writing anything if you don’t like to read. If you only read short things, I suppose that would be adequate enough to enable your career as a short fiction writer (and nothing wrong with that) but if people are unwilling to raed anything novel-length, then how can they possible learn how to handle writing anything that long.

Every how-to book on writing says to write you must read. Justine Musk & Douglas Clegg (two authors I mention often because well, I’m on their flists and I’m really familiar with their ‘on writing’ blogs) both were just discussing the art of reading and applying it to writing.

I’m not sure you can be a good writer if you don’t read. Granted there are pitfalls. You see something you wanted to write already out there in print. You see things you want to rewrite and give it an ending that doesn’t suck. You see something and wonder how in the hell did this see print? But in the end you’ve been involved the in process of writing, good and bad, even as you’re reading and enjoying (hopefully) the book in hand.

So is there anything you read to help get you out of a writing pit or around that big fat block? Personally I have no real one book that gets me moving. I do however have my genres. And more and more as I write I find myself doing mysteries, urban fantasy and YA’s so my reading has shifted to reflect that. Granted I’ve always read those things. They’re my loves but I used to have fantasy and SF in tehre and lately I read little fantasy and nearly no SF. Sometimes reading the worst book (even if I only get a chapter or two) is enough to really fire my writing motors. I KNOW I’m better than that thing and someone published it. I find that so movitating (and okay occasionally depressing) In the end, I read because I write and I write because I read.

As for my own writing, awards dinners and grading got in the way. I did under 1000 words. bah. that'll give the original fic filter a break at any rate

28300 / 175000 words. 16% done!

Comments

[bob_fish.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean. I wrote No Small Injury in order to have fun and learn something about handling a big plot, and I know I have a good few readers who regularly comment on my shorter stuff but don't go there for the plotfic. In some ways this is fine with me because in choosing to go for a plotty ensemble cast story instead of something tightly focused on the main ships I've gained a bunch of readers who have told me they're on board despite not even liking the main ship. Which is a very big compliment for me and makes me feel like I'm achieving some of the things I want to. But when you're writing a long story and you're in the tough middle chapters, it can really suck when you don't get much feedback for something that made you tear your hair out.

I've found looking at the livejournal statistics feature helps me get a bit of perspective - I've realised that the vast majority of traffic to my journal is people who are reading but not commenting. Reviews are love, but it's also good to just know people are reading.

And I agree with you about writing and reading feeding each other. Helen's just finishing up one of my favourite novels, Chandler's The Long Goodbye, which she is loving, yay. Anyway talking about it with her today while I'm thinking about NSI Ch 7 has made me realise what a huge influence Chandler is for me and how much reading him fires my imagination.

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

I know that reading Tanith Lee and Peter Beagle at an early age influenced my writing style but I've taken it to my own level. But they're the ones who inspired me to write descriptive fic, as you always knew what everything looked liked/smelled like/appeared to be, usually couched in delightfully poetic language, sooooo....

[havocmangawip.livejournal.com]

THE LONGER THE BETTER! YOUR PLOTTY GEN WITH SOME SHIP MAKES ME CAPS LOCK!!!

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

trust me I know that pain. I still think sorrow's dark array is one of the best fanfic I've ever written but only a handful of people attempted it. They want short. Now reading on line I can maybe see why but still, I wish more people were interested in plotty fanfics

somewhere aroudn Jan. 1st I put up a table of all the fic written the year before. I always hate seeing htings with no comments. I've never looked at reading stats (i'mnot sure i know HOW)

I know I've been influenced b y authors good and badd

[raceulfson.livejournal.com]

I go in cycles. When writing is going well, I don't read, because all my spare moments are devoted to writing. When I'm struggling with a fic, I avoid reading anything in that genre - fear of subconsciously stealing/being influenced, I suppose. Good writing does not make me want to write, it makes me want to read more. Bad fan fic writing is, in fact, what gave me the courage to first post my own fics. (if she can get 40 reviews for this drivel, they can't make fun of *me*!) As I grow older I have a lower tolerance for bad writing, and now I avoid it whenever possible.

I like to be immersed in a story, so if I know I won't have time to get comfortable and really sink my teeth in, I will save the fic for a later time. That's where the beauty of short stories comes in.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

i've been at this so long I can't remember what made me first send in my very fan fic. Probably because I've always been an exhibitionist...

but yes I have to say bad fiction is far more motivating than the good. There is SO much out there on the shelves that I know I'm better than, than my whole writers' group is better than and I have to wonder how it got published and how do I manage that same feat.

[marlex.livejournal.com]

Yeah... I just can't get the idea of wanting to write and not wanting to read. Aside from the whole idea that it helps your writing, why bother writing at all if you don't like to read?

I've always been an avid reader and I've always been interested in writing.

I'm pretty sure I've shared this story before, but here it goes. I joined the Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Club when I was young teen under my dad's name. Among the books I got with my initial membership were two collected volumes of two fantasy series.

One I didn't like very much. It felt like the plot directed the stories and not the characters, who seemed to be just along for the ride, always at the right place at the right time for the right thing to happen. Very little conflict.

The other volume was the first three books in the Young Wizard series by Diane Duane. It's a series I still love today and pretty much epitomizes the genre that I want to write in: teenager characters in a fantasy/sci-fi story set in the real world. (If you're a fan and haven't read A Wizard of Mars, which just came out... do so.)

The first book series made me think... I could do that... and better. Diane's works showed me what I wanted to aspire to.

Anyway, the moral of the story. Years later I read an interview with Diane Duane and the question was asked to her how she got into fiction writing. She said she had read a fantasy book series and didn't like it and felt she could do better. Same series I had read.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

damn it lj messed up and didn't post....

anyhow I was saying that yeah it's one thing to n ot have enough time to read but to not WANT to read, and still write, that's a problem.

I've heard part of the story before but not the part about Diane Duane. (Now I'm curious to know what this series was)

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

I saw A Wizard of Mars at the book store and nearly picked it up, as I've loved the rest of that series.

[a2zmom.livejournal.com]

Is that really an attitude out there? That is so sad. I love reading longer works.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

oh yes. I find it very true on LJ (FFN readers seem more apt to read longer works. I get way more interest there than here). I've had many a person on the fandom comms stop in and say 'wow sounds good but i don't read anything this long.'

WORSE, many colleges no longer make the English students read the whole book because it's too 'hard' for them

[masqthephlsphr.livejournal.com]

I have always been an avid reader. Always. Won all the library contests in childhood, spent hours in bookstores, got buried under the books I read and kept as trophies. Always had half the stuff when I moved being boxes of books.

Then I got burnt out on reading in grad school. It even affected reading for pleasure, but I figured it would go away after a year or two.

Only, it didn't. I can't seem to sit still for a book the way I can for other activities. It feels like a big time-sucker because when you're reading, it's difficult to do anything else. TV watching, writing, home projects--you can multi-task with. Reading, you're a captive audience.

I've considered getting books on tape so I *can* do other stuff while I'm hearing a story.

I still do read, but not the volume I did ten years ago. I seem to only have the patience for specific kinds of fantasy tales like Harry Potter or the Dresden Files.

And I KNOW this is effecting my writing. I've taken to learning more about my craft from television shows and films I watch, and that's not the same kind of writing at all, even if it IS story-telling.

*sigh*

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

Believe me between medical school and later my thesis, I KNOW what you mean. I had read so much I literally had to be put in an eye patch from the strain to one eye.

I tend to keep my reading confined to the bed or bath. Bed, however, needs to be manga or short stories or i WILL b e up all night trying to finish. I've made bath time my destressor ritual. I no longer care what other projects await. They'll keep another hour while I relax in the warm water and read. It's very beneficial to my sense of peace.

But yes, while I do find inspiration in TV (very often actually) it is a different sort of writing (one you managed to get down very well and knowing how hard that is I applaud you for it).

Great entry

[mstardutchess.livejournal.com]

I agree. One will not advance in their writing techniques if they don't read. Its reading that made me want to write and reading that keeps my writing from going to hell in a hand basket when it comes to description, grammar and so on.


"Sometimes reading the worst book (even if I only get a chapter or two) is enough to really fire my writing motors. I KNOW I’m better than that thing and someone published it. "

Twilight being published gave me hope. XP


Have you read the book Reading like a Writer by Francine Prose? It's an amazing book.

Re: Great entry

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

Twilight gave hope to a lot of us.

i've heard of the book but not read it. I'lllook it up

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

I can't imagine writing without reading. Even if I'm just reading manga or comic books (and those aren't 'just', any more), I'm still looking at characterization and plots; how the author fits things together and builds suspense.

I think that's why I enjoyed that novel I recced to you, Deeper Than Dead. While I didn't necessarily like the pairing that happened in the story (disagreed with it, more like), the writing around it compelled me to continue reading. And the way the characters were described, I could easily see them. (See my comment above to bob_fish about descriptions.)

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

i think writing influences how we read. I know i'm always finding fault iwth some of the stuff I read or going wow, i need to try THAT.

no the pairing in that book sucked but you're right, the characters were all very compelling. hmmm next week's writely ways...compelling characters

Oh my gosh

[idic-writer.livejournal.com]

Duh. Yeah, what is it with this? God we are getting so lazy as a society. Bleh.

Re: Oh my gosh

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

we are judging by my students

[robertlyon.livejournal.com]

This is a good entry, I liked reading it.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

thank you

[ishte.livejournal.com]

I know I don't read as much as I used to. This is partly lack of time more than lack of inclination. Also, my bathtub is not as suited for reading as my bathtubs in the past have been. I know that sounds stupid, but I used to soak for hours in my old claw foot with a good book. I could heat of the water and once the iron was hot it would stay hot for a long time. and I'd be in there long enough to heat the water up two or three times if the book was good. now I have a little five foot bathtub with the back that goes STRAIGHT UP AND DOWN. how in the hell am I supposed to relax in that tub? bleh. So I don't read as much because of that.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

doesnt' sound stupid at all. That's where i do all my reading. I missed that a lot when i lived with ELD and that tub wasn't really set up well for it either.

I had to go buy a new bath pillow over spring break because honestly that IS where i do my reading

[havocmangawip.livejournal.com]

Well done. You have articulated the "culture" of not reading in fandom beautifully.

HOW can you write without enjoying reading? Do these people ONLY read manga and then write and NOT read novels and books that don't have pictures?

I spent most of my youth with my nose in a book. I'm ready fewer books now and more fannish writing, however... I am still always reading. I was a cereal box reader before the 'net came along.

I feel upset and betrayed when books end before I'm ready for them to end. (Nerd... I know.) I remind myself to SAVOR books that are fun to read. "Slow down, read this aloud... "

Otherwise I finish entire novels in a day. Sometimes two. I finished "My Antonia" in seven hours when I was 12. I re-read it when I was older, it and "Catcher in the Rye"... as some of the concepts I wasn't "deep" enough for. I understood what happened, but not the implications.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

or just watch tv in the case of tv fandom. I don't know. I'm always reading. I have a book in the car in case i'm in the drive thru or pumping case or something

I even took a book to an amusement park when i went there alone. hour wait in line? That's reading time to me.

sadly I am behind in my fannish writing I admit it. I had to start your story all over again

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

Regardless of anything else, I can't imagine how anyone would *want* to write if they don't love to read.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

I know, exactly